


Am I A Coward

by Wr1tingpundamentals



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Analysis, Angst, poem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-29 00:47:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21401389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wr1tingpundamentals/pseuds/Wr1tingpundamentals
Summary: A poem not originally intended for this fandom but I think it fits after season 4. A reflection on what it means to make a sacrifice.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	Am I A Coward

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this originally 3 years ago as a personal vent from my experiences growing up. I never intended to post it but I’ve been having some major thoughts and feelings from She-Ra season 4. I think this can be read from multiple characters views but I mainly saw Catra and Adora when reviewing.

We are told sacrifice is courageous.  
To give up something for the greater good   
Is to display the personal courage of finding   
Something outside of yourself with great meaning   
And donating to its cause at your own cost.

To give something up for someone else  
Is to show your willingness to be less  
In order for others to achieve more  
And is laudable.

The problem is   
We don’t tell others how much to sacrifice  
We just tell them after they’ve taken it too far  
We don’t tell others what their sacrifice entails  
We just sanction them after a judgment forms.

In our society,  
When a person dies for their championed cause   
They are a martyr.  
When a person dies for an unsuccessful cause  
They were stupid.  
When a personality dies for a cause  
The person becomes a coward.

What isn’t revealed before the sacrifice,  
Is that the martyr is and always will be a martyr  
The stupid person was and will be forgotten  
And the coward’s state of existence   
Becomes their essence to others.

The memory of the sacrifice  
Is, then, wholly dependent   
On the success of their cause.

In my mind   
I was a martyr  
To others   
I was just stupid  
With time  
I have become a coward

“I am a martyr”  
I had told myself   
In order to find the strength  
To stay up late,  
For my help was needed, and I was willing  
To hide my emotions and fight alone,  
Enduring both my pain and others’ to lessen theirs  
“I am a martyr,” I whispered  
Through the pain to remind myself  
No one else needs to endure this sacrifice   
So long as I am capable and fighting.  
“I am a martyr”

As the fight wore on, I was stupid.  
I was stupid for staying up late  
Countless nights fighting for a “lost cause”  
I was stupid for hiding my emotions  
Not allowing others in to help  
I was stupid for staying with my abusers  
Though all I’d seen were damaged souls  
And in my hand a first aid kit and a responsibility  
No matter the personal cost.  
My acts of internal heroism  
Failed to produce the right outcome.  
I was stupid.

Now I am a coward  
For being unable to leave this fight  
I am a coward for putting others at risk  
And not standing up for mutual personal safety  
I am a coward for fearing what others would think of me  
When they learn the extent of my stupidity.  
I am a coward for hoping for my martyr’s actions  
To please come to their desired resolution,  
Because my current will to sacrifice is waning.

What they don’t tell you before your sacrifice  
Is that martyrs fights are not meant to last.  
A martyr is the end strike, the person meant   
To crumble the bad in the world along with themselves  
A martyr dies so their cause may live.  
A martyr who lives dies in place of their cause.

“I am a martyr,” is the same as saying  
“I mean nothing to this world;   
I am whole to sacrifice”

A martyr I am not,   
And will not be, ever again.


End file.
